1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power conducting cables. More particularly, the invention relates to a fluid-cooled secondary power conductor and a method of making the same. The construction disclosed provides a fluid-cooled power conductor which is greatly simplified in construction in comparison to prior art fluid-cooled power conductors, and is much stronger than said prior art conductors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of wire ropes or braids made of copper to carry heavy current loads is well known in the art. These wire ropes or braids generally have a terminal mechanically connected on each end, and are of an air-cooled or a fluid-cooled construction. Regardless of their construction there has been a longstanding problem in the prior art as to how to satisfactorily connect a solid copper terminal to a braided wire rope. Many means of making these connections have been tried, but none have been satisfactory until the time of the present invention either because the cost of making the connection is very high, or because the connection is not permanent and the terminal works loose from the wire braid during use.
The problem of how to connect a terminal to the conductors in a fluid-cooled secondary power conductor, such as those used in the resistance welding industry, presents even greater problems as the connections must be made at the same time fluid passages are provided for cooling. One such fluid-cooled power conductor made by the assignee of the present invention has a terminal mechanically connected to an arrangement of six conductors arranged in a helically wound alternate polarity position about a six compartment separator having fluid passages at the interior thereof. This conductor has proved satisfactory in operation but is somewhat costly to manufacture. By first forging or swaging a ferrule to a wire rope or braid while simultaneously forming a fluid channel in said ferrule, and then crimping a terminal having a fluid passage which connects to the channel in the ferrule, a more permanent mechanical connection is made, and at the same time, the possibility for the first time is given of circulating fluid about the outside of the wire rope or braid instead of having interior water passages, as was generally done heretofore. This has solved longstanding problems in the fluid-cooled power conductor art.